A Fresh Start in 2015

Reminiscing on a post I started and never finished on 16Nov2014:

The Week Where Nothing Seemed to work out

During this week it seemed like all plans were falling apart.  I walked away from a job opportunity.  I still have not yet heard back from the music department.  It's been a frustrating week.

Sometimes the Lord makes us wait.  Sometimes we need to feel the struggle in order to recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives.

WARNING: This post is very long
WARNING: I'm taking a break from the MusicEd story (I have not given up on attaining this degree)
IF you want cute photos of the babies from Thanksgiving (I didn't take any at Christmas/New Years) scroll down to the end.

***August 11, 2004 JOURNAL: Sweet!
     I have said that word more times today that I care to remember,  So very tired right now.  I didn't do much today and I feel exhausted.  Maybe it's because I'm laying down.
     District Meeting today.  It's like extra Sabbath.  I enjoy being around the other missionaries.
     I was thinking about a lesson I learned in a devotional district meeting in the MTC.  There's a natural process by which people are able to learn to change themselves which comes as a result of building up trust then turning them ever so slightly towards the light.  I don't know how much help I can/should be to others, when I, myself, am far from perfect.

11 January 2015 - New Year, New Beginnings

The quote from the beginning of this post was a hard time.

At that time, I had two job opportunities available.  One that recently contacted me again with interest in me teaching piano/violin lessons after school/evening hours.  Another as a part-time admin assistant at a preschool town-side, with the strong possibility of growing to a full time position.  But none of those positions felt right.  I walked away from the second after the first of three days of trial/orientation, where I basically volunteered four hours of my day.

I had been (I'll continue this story in the next post, promise.  I'm still working on getting in shape, musically to get into school) back and forth with so many different counselors and advisers at LCC and UH Manoa that I was having trouble keeping track of who did what.  Then I finally managed to get to the right adviser and she wasn't answering her emails (I magically emailed her while she was off island for something like 2 weeks).

As of Friday, I am officially done with family childcare.  While I'll miss the kiddies, it's time to move forward to help support my family and start accomplishing some goals.  I feel like my babies are growing and in a place where Nakeu and I can be gone from the home for a while and they'll be okay.  It's hard to let go and to trust others when I've been with my babies for the last six years.

Today I was released as Personal Progress adviser in the Young Women's program.  I have served with three different presidencies in the last six years and have loved all the girls I have had the opportunity to work with.  I will miss being able to work so closely with the girls.  Being released will make it will be easier to manage work and family.  It also makes it easier to support Nakeu in his calling because I can watch the babies in the evening when he needs to be up at the church and at meetings and such.

Since the beginning of the month I've been working on a way to continue the orchestra group from the Christmas devotional.  It's been a little rocky trying to make great plans concrete.  But there are people that keep pushing me along and this is something I feel right about doing and being apart of.  I was worried about finding rehearsal space and cost and funding to run a community, volunteer orchestra.  Today I learned we may have access to space that, may be rent free.  We also have an upcoming performance with the Renaissance Academy in Kapolei, scheduled for April.

Tomorrow is a fresh start day as I start full time at the Kroc Center as an admin assistant to my manager in the Programs department.  I'm super excited to start this position.

In my favorite lesson from church today, there was a quote I loved by Ezra Taft Benson:
"When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives."  I may not be perfect in putting God first, but I have been working at making scripture study, worship and prayer a more important part of my life.  I believe this fresh start and new year are results of that.  Putting God first and letting Him put things into proper place at the right time.

End wordiness.  Start photo bucketing:

 Love,
ARi

Loneliness on the Mission and the Next Step in Getting Back in School

In reading these old journal entries, I realize I got homesick a lot, especially at the beginning.  I mean, we were the only sister missionaries on the island.  There were three of us when I started, but after Sis. Garber went home, I spent something like 10 months with just me and my companion (Sis. Garside then Sis. Tolu).  In retrospect, it was simple experiences like this that make life a bit easier now.  When we decided that I should be a stay-at-home mom, nothing else could have prepared me for that feeling of being alone that inevitably comes when your vocabulary dwindles down to simple repetitive, two-syllable words as a result of spending most of your waking hours with small children and extra-curricular activities have to be scheduled around feeding times and are dependent on how long whom ever is watching the babies can handle the crying.

***August 10, 2004 JOURNAL: Lonesome
          All through out today I've been praying to have the spirit of the Lord with me.  I point this out because it isn't the normal wanting of the Lord's spirit that goes on daily.  It's more like a pleading for the Lord's spirit to be with me, to uphold me, to fill the empty parts of my heart - of missing home and family and friends.
          I had a lot of energy today, for a good part of the day too!  I can't remember the last time i felt energetic like that.  It was nice.  I learned that the Holy Ghost really does bring things to my remembrance.  That was an amazing feeling.  To bear testimony in Pohnpeian, after having prepared and studied, then having those words I needed come back to my memory when I needed them, was awesome.


9 November 2014:

After deciding to get a degree in Music Education on my own I needed to tell Nakeu.  Elder Godoy shared

It is very likely that when we decide to take a certain path, the people we love will be affected, and some will even share with us the results of this choice. Ideally, they should be able to see what we see and share our same convictions. This is not always possible, but when it occurs, the journey is much easier.

I knew that I needed to share this decision with Nakeu.  I also knew he would, as he has always been, completely supportive of this decision.  But, I was still trying to work through what I was going through with projected thoughts of failures and short comings.

One day we were out running errands with out the babies and decided to take a drive.  We headed into Campbell Industrial Park area exactly as everyone was trying to leave and traffic was back up.  I knew this was my opportunity because we'd have to drive around for a while so as not to get caught up in boring traffic.

I told Nakeu that I was thinking about changing to my course of degree to music.
He responded with, well it'll have to be in education.
And I said, of  course.

I shared with him how I had been thinking about switching to a music degree after starting work at the Kroc Center and having applied to another music related job at a small music/piano studio.  It felt like the right fit for moving forward with completing my degree.

At this point in the conversation there were still a good number of unknowns.  I knew that I would eventually need to be at UH Manoa, but I was unsure about how soon that would be.  I knew the task would be laborious, because I am almost starting from scratch (even with credits that would transfer) because it's such a drastic change in direction.

True to form, Nakeu supported my decision and we started making small plans of what the next steps should be.  I knew I needed to start meeting with some academic advisers as soon as possible as the next most logical step.

As soon as I was done sharing with Nakeu and we got back on the main road to go home, the traffic had all cleared.

Here feels like another natural pause in the story.

Here are some old photos that I don't think I shared yet.  We went to see the VexRobotic Competition:

Excuse the watermark from my website.

Love,
ARi